OK, my 302....runs like doo-doo.....

OK, when I crank it up it starts right up and runs fine.....for about 5 minutes....then you have to feather the gas to keep it running, it will not idle under its own power...From start up to shut down it blows white smoke.

About 2 weeks prior to this. it overheated bad.
about 2 days before I changed plugs and wires, rotor and cap.

I have checked and rechecked firing order, it is all good, I cannot see it running AT ALL if the rotor was installed backwards.

It actually acts like it is running extremely rich after motor has started to warm up.

Even right at start up if you put it into gear it will die, it does not have the power to do ANYTHING right now.


Just need some ideas on what to look at,.....will start work on it this week finally....it has been sitting for the past 7 or 8 months, getting started up once or twice a month depending.

Thanks.

 

Sounds like water's getting into cylinders. Maybe something cracked or blew when it overheated.

 

If its not what c96drumm mentioned could it be the choke sticking, is the distributor loose/ timing off or what about dirt in the carburetor or dirty fuel filter? Good luck, let us know what it is when you figure it out

 

it is EFI, but I will check the fuel filter I have a new one to put in there.

 

Like what has been said, white smoke means you are burning coolant. Blown head gasket is pretty common on an overheated 302. It's also possible that your head or even your block is cracked, but my money is on the gasket. Check your oil for signs of water. Pull your radiator cap and rev your engine, and see if you have bubbles forming in your coolant.

 

hm ok thanks. I thought white smoke was burning oil though? guess not....it is just that the exhaust smells like a darned two stroke outboard motor I am used to runnin....I figured I had cracked something or blown a gasket....but wanted some more opinions

 

White smoke is coolant/water in the engine = blown head gasket or possibly cracked if it overheated...

Black smoke is oil being burned in the engine...usually caused by the rings being warn and oil getting past.

Do a compression test and it'll tell you if you've got a blown gasket.

 

If it were a coolant leak it will have a sweet smell, given you use coolant and don't run straight water for some reason. I think you may be correct that its rich/ burning oil vs. a cracked head/block. I was thinking fuel filter when I thought for some reason it was carbed, I wouldn't worry about that just yet.

Well being its efi, pull the codes, that should point you in the right direction. A haynes manual will show you how or autozone will do it for free. Good luck

 

ok cool thanks guys, we will check the codes then pull the plugs, also see if one is fouled or something also, and make sure they all have a good spark. We do have a compresion tester and that will be the next step thanks guys Will report back when we can get some wrenching done

 

Well JW, nobody is alway right, but the rule of thumb is as follows....
Black smoke out the tailpipe- running rich, too much fuel
Blue smoke out the tailpipe - Burning oil
White smoke out the tailpipe- Burning water/coolant
I've worked on cars and trucks for over 30 years, and I have to say that this has always been correct. Maybe you know something I don't. I have an open mind, and am willing to learn. It makes sense though. Think about it. Engine was overheated. Now when engine gets warm (after 5 minutes running time) it starts blowing white smoke and running rough. Either blown gaskets or cracks in engine parts expand with heat, and allow more coolant to go through. The worst I've ever seen, was my 90 SuperCoupe. Blown head gaskets and a supercharged engine make MUCH white smoke. Every engine I have ever seen with coolant getting into the combustion chamber skips at least a little, depending on how many cylinders are affected. I actually would hope that I am wrong, but what I think the problem is, fits the symptoms exactly. If you know of any brands of gas or oil that burns white, please fill me in.

 

I am not saying your wrong, but without physically seeing I can't tell what the symptoms are. Sometimes when people feel there is a problem they notice that the exhaust has a white fog coming out their exhaust, what they don't realize is its just condensation, so all of a sudden what is nothing becomes a coolant leak/ blown head gasket. I just reread his original post and he did write it put out white smoke from start up to shut down and mentioned 5 minutes, I seem to have missed that part, I assumed it went away, with that in mind my reply may have been different. I am aware of smoke colors and possible problems.

I have had a couple lawn mowers that were old or faulty produce a white smoke, last time I checked they use only gas and oil in cheap pushmowers.

 

OK update.

I dont remember how Ford numbers the cylinders so this is how I numbered them for this

looking from hte front
------Back-------
Passenger----Driver
--(8)----------(7)
--(6)----------(5)
--(4)----------(3)
--(2)----------(1)
-------Front-------

OK we got that straight now right?

Compression check

(1) 180 PSI
(3) 180 PSI
(5) 180 PSI
(7) >175 PSI
(2) 170 PSI
(4) <175 PSI
(6) 180 PSI
(8) >175 PSI

i.e.

-----Back-----
Passenger--Driver
--(>175)----(>175)
--( 180)-----( 180)
--(<175)-----( 180)
--( 170)-----( 180)
-----Front-----

This check was done while the engine was COLD had not been cranked over all day

Also of note. The gauge held steady on ALL cylinders after PSI peaked...except cyl 2 and 4, in which the gauge would drop after we stopped turning the motor


All plugs looked the EXACT same after we pulled them

they where ALL covered in black soot...carbon I guess I mean COVERED only two little dots on the diode and electrode where not.

Tehre was still a signifigant amount of white smoke comng out the tailpipe....might be a very LIGHT blue but cant really tell. the exhaust smells just like a two stroke motor, when compared to my 02 4.2L V6 and my friends 92 302 my 91 smelled nothing alike the other two.

Engine cranks jsut fine the first time, but after running a few minutes if you shut it down and try and restart it take s a while and you have to give it alot of gas.

We didthe compression check with the fuel pump turned off so none would get in the cylinders and possibly skew the results.

Is it possible there could be two problems? The amount of carbon suggest to me that it is putting too much fuel in EVERY cylinder, or perhaps it was a bunch of old gas, which is a probable scenario as the truck sat for a year.

However, the connection between the front two cylinder on the passenger side bank are rather suspicious, blown gasket? head cracked between the two? or the block? If ther is a blown gasket or crack in there would it leak oil into the cylinder? causing a very light blue smoke? that almost looks white. regardless it looks like I need to pull the passenger head at the very least to take alook at that.

 

BTW we have not checked the oil yet , or the coolant, and we will be running the codes this saturday, as the check engine light is on from start up

 

PLEASE HELP


I am on a very short schedule for getting this truck running.. if anyone read my note to friends in the 4.2 forum you would know what I mean....I need to get this thing running...it needs to move me

 

Starting on passanger front
4---8
3---7
2---6
1---5
fromt of engine
Not like chebby.